(THIS IS A BENGALI WORD WHICH
ROUGHLY TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH MEANS
A PRIMAL SCREAM)
a poem with footnotes...
we can be custodians
of your screams
across continents and seas, we hear you,
from Mumbai; we put our ears on the ground,
and listen; we listen beyond grenades,
rifles, guns, to the collective sound of
silent screams ; Angel Agony brings them
to our doors; you are being shot to death
without cause, by young men who are laughing
at your fear; you are being shot in the leg,
in the neck, in your back and in your chest;
without cause; there is no escape allowed,
no mercy; only indiscriminate
slaughtering; the majestic Taj and the
Oberoi, have become a battlefield,
without rules; blood is boiling in cauldrons,
thanksgiving?
we hear in the river's flow,
your outcries. we hear you as far back as
history; staring at death in the face,
no way out; while facing Lowe's assassins
in a line; in Jallianwallah Bagh;
in Delhi; many times the British smiled
while killing; our anger has cooled but we
remember; fury is unbridled again
for your sake; for the sake of others too,
those voiceless; all over the world you scream
as you fall; we, finally, hear Those screams
as you fell: no longer complacent,
we fall with you; we're no longer Swiss neutral,
we're engaged; we have broken the silence
of your screams.
we pull out the screams from the
tongue of seas; all seas, red, black, caspian,
are united; what affects one affects all,
we know so; all the seas are bloodier
than crimson; the colour of a heart shed
like a rose; children float on the backs of
prophecies; God knows what God alone knows,
we are here; we are the caretakers here,
of the screams; not vigilantes, turning
on wrath; we do not want to put hands
over mouths; your soul is attended as
we listen; we want all to hear what you
were stifling; metanoia is our goal,
peace our way; so the screams won't be trapped in
a painting.
we can be custodians
of your screams.
a poem for Bobo, who watched the news from
Mumbai bravely for 2 nights and 3 days.
11/28/08
1. The Taj and The Oberoi are two of the
luxury hotels in Mumbai, where terrorists killed
197 people and wounded over 400 in November 2008
on Thanksgiving Day in the United States.
2. Thomas Lowe was an officer of the British
army, which had a policy of "no prisoners" during
the Great Indian rebellion in 1857. On one occasion
76 people were lined up and shot. On another occasion,
149 people were lined up and executed by the British.
3. Jallianwallah Bagh Incident -- On April 13, 1919,
the British Indian army under the orders of Gen. Dyer
opened fire on a gathering of men, women and children.
The British reported 379 casualties; the actual number
could be as high as 1536 according to Civil Surgeon
Dr. Smith and higher according to private sources.
Whatever may be the actual numbers, many people died.
4. In Delhi at the conclusion of the Sepoy Mutiny, in 1857
the British shot the rebels, while their wives
and children watched. in many cases, unarmed sepoys were
bayonetted, sown up in the carcasses of pigs or cows,
or fired from cannons.
